(Vanessa Ho • The Student Life)
College life is full of so many sweet moments. As cheesy as that sounds, I can’t help but think about it more and more as the semester goes on. Even when I’m stressed about assignments and Zoom meetings and the mountain of readings that I have to complete, it is the silly moments with friends that make the stress bearable.
A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled into Frary with a lot on my mind. I had been constantly on the move that day and had not once stopped to take a breather. I also had a major assignment due that night that was frustrating me. For days, it made me want to bang my head against a wall. Evidently, I needed to clear my mind — but all I could think about was eating a quick dinner and then locking myself in my room until the assignment was done.
I grabbed my food and started perusing the dining hall for a place to sit when all of a sudden I ran into my friend Rachel Cho PO ’27. She was having dinner with our other friend, Eliana Yi PO ’24, and asked if I wanted to join them.
For a split second, I hesitated. “What about the work I have to do?” I thought to myself. The hour that followed, however, ended up being the perfect destresser — the mental break that I so desperately needed.
Rachel, Eliana and I caught up and cackled over what happened that day in Rachel’s chemistry lab, as well as in Eliana’s wheel-throwing pottery class. We lamented over how tired we were and vowed to try getting a proper night’s rest that evening, regardless of the assignments that oh-so-eagerly awaited our attention. We talked and talked and talked and once we had finished our food, we collectively agreed that it was time to grab a sweet treat. We didn’t want our dinner to end here — our conversations were far from over.
So, the three of us emerged from our seats and started perusing that night’s Frary dessert options. When none of the baked goods intrigued us, we decided to inspect the ice cream selection. When nothing from the vivid array of ice creams caught our attention, we realized that we would have to get creative with our sweet treats.
“A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled into Frary with a lot on my mind.”
We agreed to go our separate ways to assemble our concoctions and meet back at our table afterward and regroup — and when I returned, I was met with the most amusing sight.
Eliana had a bowl of Froot Loops and Frosted Flakes (no milk) in front of her, Rachel had a plate of onion rings and fries in hand and I had a vanilla latte.
We chuckled at how different our post-dinner palate cleansers were. Rachel and Eliana poked fun at me for my 7 p.m. coffee (I can sleep just fine with coffee in the evening) and I made sure to do the same with Eliana’s curious cereal selection and Rachel’s not-so-sweet “sweet” treat.
By the time we finally left the dining hall after chatting over our coffee, cereal and fries, I smiled to myself. Even though the work I had yet to do had not changed, I felt rejuvenated. I flipped back to the photo on my phone that I had snapped of our “dessert” selections and laughed. “These moments, rather than the assignments, are what I’m going to remember of my college experience,” I thought to myself. “These are the moments that I don’t want to skip out on.”
Now that we are back from spring break, we are in the home stretch of the semester. Things will inevitably get stressful. I hope, though, that amidst the seemingly never-ending pile of work that we have to complete, we still take the time to eat with our friends, tease each other for our dessert choices and share some good hearty laughs.
Whether finishing up our first or last year at the 5Cs, our time here is short. These are the moments that we will remember.
Emily Kim PO ’25 is from Irvine, California. The next book on her reading list is Breast and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami, and she is currently feeling very grateful for the stash of coffee candy in her desk drawer.
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